Tomato flavour diluted

[DahlisMarie]

Just read something that was news to me (as is most things) and I think explains why my tomatoes last season were so tasteless.
Apparently, too much watering dilutes the flavour of the tomatoes. This was in a newsletter from the growers.
My tomatoes last season were abysmal Despite having good seeds from a variety of types, brandy pinks, annalieses, black russians and sweetbites among them, hardly any had a good tomato flavour.
I was blaming my seeds and my soil until I read this.
Has anyone had experience of this??

[oldherbaceous]

Dear DahlisMarie, there have been people on the forum complaining of there tomatoes being a bit tasteless, maybe this is the reason.
Well as for mine, they have been some of the best tasteting tomatoes i have grown for a long while. I think this is mainly down to the hot weather we have had this year.
One problem i have now got though, is a lot of them have started to split, where we have had a lot of rain this last week.
I will think of you next time i'm eating one of my exceptionally tasty tomatoes.
We can't get everythng right all of the time.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

We will always get some sort of weather.

[Mike Vogel]

Yes, Dahlismarie, I think what you have read is right. At the risk of repeating something from another forum place, the Italians with allotments next to mine say that tomatoes shouldn't be overwatered, because their roots need to grow deeply in search of moisture. In fact, toms have a dual-system of roots: some grow nar the surface and others grow deeper - I forget what each system does for the plant. Plum toms, however, need more watering than others; The San Marzano variety develops "bottom end rot" if it gets too thirsty. MY Andine Cornue plants, however, seem to do just fine with the same watering regime as the others.

Good luck

mike

[DahlisMarie]

Yes, Dahlismarie, I think what you have read is right. At the risk of repeating something from another forum place, the Italians with allotments next to mine say that tomatoes shouldn't be overwatered, because their roots need to grow deeply in search of moisture.
mike

Hi Mike, thanks for that. I am thinking I might have to get my tomatoes growing in a separate place, so I can regulate the water more.
Most of the vegetables and fruit need really good watering in our summer because of the heat they are exposed to. So I have been just putting sprinklers of the whole area. I will change this for my tomatoes and see if I can get tasty ones this year.

[Johnboy]

Hi DM,
I grow my Tomatoes in the greenhouse soil, which I guess is only fractionally hotter than your normal climate or may even be cooler. I bury a 11/2 inch waste pipe about a foot into the ground alongside the Tomato plant and administer the water directly to the root area. This seems to sustain my plants very well and also I do not use very much water.
I believe that by using this method it encourages the roots to grow very deep by comparison to ones that are surface watered. I rather think the two tiers of roots is not normal but is induced by continual surface watering. A plant below ground can put roots out anywhere but I feel that by continually denying deep water the roots nearer the surface become more apparent and could well take over from the deeper rooted ones. I mulch the surface of the soil with Comfrey Leaves to prevent evaporation. I do not suffer from blossom end rot as many people in UK who grow in growbags and pots do.
May I take this opportunity to say how nice it is to exchange with a person from the Antipodes. Please do tell your friends about us as I am sure that I am not alone with my thoughts.

[Chantal]

I understood that tomatoes always had two tiers of roots; the deep ones which are used for water and the fine fibrous ones near the surface that are used for feeding.

Am I right or wrong here? Does anyone know?

[Weed]

I always thought the same Chantal....for years before I got my allotment I grew tomatoes by ring culture in a greenhouse at home. The deeper roots took water deep from the soil whilst the surface or more fibrous roots were for feeding by applying a feed solution at the rings....so I was told!

[Johnboy]

Hi Weed and Chantal,
To a degree we are all correct but what I am trying to say, probably very badly, is that it depends how the Tomatoes are watered and if they do not get sufficient to the deep roots then the surface roots play too large a part in the whole process.
I do not suffer from the plants wilting even through this very hot period they have just endured.
I put that down to the deep watering and I say they are fed with Comfrey which is on the surface but the liquid Comfrey feeding goes down the tube and they seem to thrive on it. Another point is how deep is shallow? The tubes are inserted about 12" into the ground and I know the deep roots really do get to quite a depth and when they are dug out at the end of the season the roots go way down. The Comfrey mulching prevents evaporation and although the mulching is never actually watered it still seems to mange to biodegrade rather than shrivel up.
I don't know what do you think?

[oldherbaceous]

My tomatoes have started to split in lare numbers this last week with all this rain we have had, i put this down to the deeper roots suddenly getting a good soaking all of a sudden. I think i will employ your way of watering Jonhboy, with tubes inserted in the ground.
It really is a shame as i was getting a huge crop of very tasty tomatoes up to now.
These are outdoor tomatoes that i am talking about by the way.
I think once they have got over this initial shock they will back to full production.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Teres no fool like an old fool.

[DahlisMarie]

Hi I have always been told that tomatoes need to be watered at ground level and not from on top of foliage, howver I have ignored that advice for ease of management and using my sprinklers.
So I have paid the price of ending up with tasteless tomatoes and ones that need more and more water

What you are all saying seems to bear out that original advice. Water ground level(or as JB does, below ground level) and only when absolutely needed.
Interesting point about the excess rain may cause the splitting reaction moreso because the deep roots are not accustomed to receiving the water.
Convinced hubby we have to put tomatoes in new separate bed in side paddock. AND ground level or below watering installed will be a must.

Do any of you pick off the new shoots at the joints of branches Was told to do that many years ago, but have read only recently that you only do that if you want to increase the size of tomatoes, but you get less of them by doing so

[Chantal]

I never water my tomatoes from above the plant as I understand this can encourage blight; I always try to avoid the leaves wherever possible.

[Tigger]

As many of you know, I grow most of my tomatoes in double grow bags in unheated tunnels. However, I have grown 50 plants outside this year.

The outside ones I've left to their own devices and, despite the heat, they have all survived and are ripening steadily, if slowly.

The inside ones have been watered twice a day at the hottest times, every other day at the coolest. I feed them once a week. We can't keep up with the rate of ripening so everyone we know is sick of tomatoes. I only water the base of the plants. Certainly, it is my experience that too much water reduces flavour and causes the fruit to split.

As for pinching out - it depends on whether you're growing cordon plants or bush. The cordons should be pinched out, the bush left to do their own thing.

Finally - Chantal - I'm with you - I thought tomatoes have surface roots and deep roots. One for food and the other for water.

[submariner]

For my pouches , and outdoor toms , I use spikes about 9 inches long, and screw a 2 litre pop bottle full of water onto them. Water goes down to the roots. Seems to have worked for me. Tomatoes are lovely. Incidentally, I have grown the new T & M Tomazing, and they are as advertised probably the sweetest tomatoe I have tasted.

[Mike Vogel]

When I started growing toms my aunt told me that when I used the tomorite I should give the leaves a sprinkling as well as the base. Now that I use organic products, I am very happy to do this with SM3, a seaweed based fertiliser, because the leaves of all plants benefit from it.

But, oh thanks, Chantal and Weed. I too sink pots or bits of pipe to get water down to the roots, but I use water with the fertiliser [SM3 especially] into the pots / pipes and I then wet the surface with more plain water. It should be the other way round, shouldn't it!

And yes, OH, mine also have split after the heavy rain. Especially my beef toms, Potiron Ecarlate, splitting at the top end. The Gardeners Delight have also been affected, but not so much my Johnson's Outdoor Girl.

mike